Construction for turbulence generating well device



J. R. SOLUM Oct. 26, 1965 CONSTRUCTION FOR TURBULENCE GENERATING WELL DEVICE Filed April 9, 1965 JAMES E. SOLUM INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,213,943 CONSTRUCTION FOR TURBULENCE GENERATING WELL DEVICE James R. Solum, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to B 8: W

Incorporated, Torrance, Calif, a corporation of California Filed Apr. 9, 1963, Ser. No. 271,805 7 Claims. (Cl. 166173) This invention relates to a turbulence generating well tool device for use on a well pipe position in a well bore of the type of device disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,881,840, entitled Tool for Use in Cementing Well Casing that issued to the assignee of this invention and, in particular, is directed to an improved construction of such a device.

Recently there has been an increased use of well tool devices for creating turbulence in the annular space between the well pipe and the well bore in conjunction with operations during the completion of oil wells. For example, in the cementing of a well casing in a well bore it is highly desirable to obtain complete movement of the drilling fluid in the annular space so that a complete fill of cement is obtained. Devices such as that disclosed in the aforementioned United States Letters Patent are mounted on the exterior of the well casing for producing turbulence in the annular space and thereby agitating the drilling fluid to a fluid state so that channelling flow is eliminated or at least discouraged.

Some of such devices employ multiple strand wire cable formed into loops or other configurations and project into the annular space to serve to mechanically agitate the drilling fluid and cement slurry. Although such devices are similar to well known conventional scratchers they are to be contrasted with scratchers in that such devices do not abrade the well bore wall but rather merely wipe the well bore wall.

Many different arrangements have been adopted for mounting these multiple strand cables to carriers which are in turn mounted on the well pipe. Although these arrangements usually have various attributes either as to final construction or mode of manufacturing, most of the mounting arrangements also have inherent undesirable characteristics. For example, certain conventional devices employ a single continuous cable which must be threaded through apertures in mounting means and this constitutes a rather tedious manufacturing operation. Another conventional device employs a plurality of individual cable lengths that have their ends mounted on the carrier, but the ends of the cables can become frayed and difficult to mount in the retainers on the carrier.

Furthermore, most of the conventional types of devices employing multiple strand cables as turbulence generating means require that apertures, pockets and other types of elements be formed in the material of the carrier for receiving the cable and securing same to the carrier. Thus, for a collar type device for encircling the well pipe the collar shaped carrier is not a plain collar, but rather is formed with means for securing the cable thereto. Since different collar sizes must be used for different sizes of well pipe and well casing, it is often true that separate individual machine tools and dies must be used for each size of carrier collar and therefore the tooling costs are increased and versatility of manufacturing is impaired.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a novel arrangement for mounting multiple strand cables on a carrier for use as a turbulence generating well device.

Another object of this invention is to provide novel means for mounting cables on a collar type carrier wherein the collar is in the form of a plain cylinder and may be of any desired size.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel subassembly adapted to be mounted on a plain collar wherein the subassembly is comprised of a plurality of individual lengths of cables joined together in a novel manner by means adapted for mounting on the carrier.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an improved construction of a turbulence generating device that may be manufactured by separately constructing the carrier and the cable and retainer subassembly and then merely mounting such subassembly on the carrier.

Other and more detailed objects and advantages of this invention will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the assembled de vice of this invention combined with a stop device for securing same to the well pipe.,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional plan view of the device illustrated in FIGURE 1 taken immediately above the cables of the device.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation view taken substantially on the line 33 as shown in FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view of a portion of a sub-' assembly of cables and retainers adapted to be mounted on a carrier.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a modified form of the device of this invention illustrating an increased number of individual cable lengths than those shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 1, the turbulence generating device, generally designated 10, of this invention is secured to a conventional type stop collar device, generally designated 11, by any convenient means such as weld 12. As well known to those skilled in the art, a turbulence generating device like device 10, may be immovably secured to the exterior of the well pipe or so mounted as to permit limited movement on the well pipe. Securing the device 10 to the well pipe may be accomplished by welding the device directly to the well pipe or by the use of a stop device like device 11. The device 10 may also be mounted between stop lugs welded to the pipe or between stop collars mounted on the pipe whereby the device 10 will be free to rotate and slide a limited distance on the well pipe. The illustrated combined device of FIGURE 1 is particularly adapted for use on small sizes of well pipe such as 2%" tubing, and the stop collar device 11 is hinged to facilitate slipping onto the tubing and may be of the type disclosed in US. Letters Patent No. 2,998,848 issued to the assignee of this invention.

The device 10 is comprised of a carrier in the form of a cylindrical collar 13 on which are mounted a plurality of retainer plates 14 that are in turn secured to a plurality of individual lengths of cable 15. Any convenient means may be employed for securing retainer plates 14 to the collar 13 such as a plurality of projection welds 16. In manufacturing the device 10 the retainer plates 14 are preformed to the configuration hereinafter described, the cables 15 are mounted in the retainer plates 14, and then the subassembly of retainer plates 14 and cables 15 are mounted on the preformed collar 13 and secured thereto by welds 16.

The retainer plates 14 are comprised of a generally rectangular piece of material, preferably sheet metal, having a bridge element 17 and pocket 18 formed integrally therewith. Bridge element 17 is formed by lancing a strip of the material of plate 14 outwardly along two spaced and relatively parallel edges 19 with the ends of the bridge element 17 remaining integral with the plate. The pocket 18 is formed by lancing the material of plate 14 outwardly along a single edge 20 spaced from and relatively parallel to edges 19 and deforming the material outwardly to form the pocket. As thus formed, the bridge element 1'7 forms an aperture along the surface of plate 14 and pocket 18 forms an aperture facing bridge element 17.

The individual cables 15 are of predetermined lengths necessary to form the desired size and shape of loops for projecting outwardly from collar 13. The number of cables 15 that will be provided and thus the number of loops that will be formed for a particular device 10 will depend on many factors such as the siZe of the device and individual preference. An end 21 of each of two separate cables 15 is inserted through the aperture formed by bridge element 17 and into the pocket 18 with such ends of the two cables positioned side by side. The bridge element 17 and pocket 18 are then mechanically forced toward the major body of the plate 14 to crush the cable ends 26 between the major body of plate 14 and the bridge element 17 and pocket 18, substantially as shown in FIGURE 3, to thereby secure the cables to the retainer plate. The bridge element 17 and pocket 18 may be flatly forced against the pair of cable ends or an indentation 22 may be formed in the bridge element and pocket between the pair of cable ends such that the cable ends are secured somewhat individually.

The subassembly, generally designated 23 and fragmentarily shown in FIGURE 4, of cables 15 and retainer plates 14 is comprised of a number of cables secured to an equal number of retainer plates. Each cable 15 is secured to two different retainer plates 14 and no two cables 15 are secured to the same two retainer plates 14. Thus, a continuous cable chain is formed by the plurality of individual cables 15 being secured one to another by means of the retainer plates 14. The continuous chain is necessarily formed in that there are an equal number of retainer plates and cables, each cable has two ends, and each retainer plate has two cable ends secured therein. It is preferred that the ends of two cable lengths 15 that are secured to one retainer plate 14 and are therefore forming adjacent loops in the final assembly be so positioned side by side in retainer plates 14 that the resultant cable loops in device 10 overlap each other as at 24. This overlapping construction produces a more complete coverage of the annular space by the cables and enhances the structural support of each cable. The entire subassembly 23 is not shown in FIGURE 4 for clarity in that since a continuous chain is formed some of the cables 15 and retainer plates 14 would be overlapping and positioned behind each other in that figure.

Each of the retainer plates 14 may be deformed to have an arcuate interior surface 25 adapted to fit the outer cylindrical surface of collar 13. This deforming of retainer plates 14 may be readily be accomplished during the forming of bridge element 17 and pocket 18 or during the operation of deforming the bridge element and pocket to secure the cable ends 21 therein.

The device 10a of this invention illustrated in FIGURE is substantially identical to and constructed the same as heretofore described device except that six lengths of cable a and six retainer plates 14a are provided rather than the four cables and four retainer plates shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 for device 10.

Thus, it may be seen that by this invention there is provided a construction for a turbulence generating device employing multiple strand cables wherein a plurality of cable lengths may be readily secured to individual retainers thereby facilitating the mounting of the cables on the carrier of the device by merely requiring mounting of the retainers on the carrier. In this way a plain cylindrical collar may be used as the carrier and the retainers are identical for all sizes of collars thereby minimizing the quantity of tooling required and parts-in-process inventory. The individual retainer plates are easily manipulated during construction of the subassembly to thereby minimize the effort required in positioning the cable ends in a retainer as contrasted to conventional modes of construction wherein the entire carrier would have to be manipulated. Moreover, the subassembly is then easily manipulated for securing to the carrier. Another desirable feature which is achieved is that the very ends of the multiple strand wire cable which may become frayed are confined between the outer surface of the carrier and the pocket of the retainer plate. In contrast, previously conventional devices such as that of the aforementioned United States Letters Patent No. 2,881,840 left these frayed ends exposed thereby occasionally causing injury during handling of the device and even interfering with slipping the device onto a well pipe.

Having fully described my invention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the details herein set forth or to the details illustrated in the drawings, but my invention is of the full scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a well pipe device for generating turbulence in a well bore, an improvement comprising a carrier adapted to be mounted on the well pipe, a plurality of. retainer plates, each said plate having a bridge element lanced outwardly along two spaced edges and integral with said plate at the end of said edges, each said plate having a pocket formed therein with an opening facing and spaced from one of said edges of the bridge element, a like plurality of cable lengths, a pair of ends of separate cable lengths passing through a said bridge element and said opening to terminate in a said pocket of each said plate, each said bridge element and pocket deformed for securing said ends to said plates, the ends of each cable length secured in separate retainer plates, said plates mounted in spaced relation to each other on said carrier with each said cable length forming a loop, and said cable lengths deformed at said bridge elements for directing said loops outwardly from said carrier.

2. In a well pipe device for generating turbulence in a well bore, an improvement comprising a carrier adapted to be mounted on the well pipe, a plurality of retainer plates, each said plate having a bridge element lanced outwardly along two spaced edges and integral with said plate at the ends of said edges, each said plate having a pocket formed therein with an opening facing and spaced from one of said edges of the bridge element, a plurality of cable lengths equal in number .to said plurality of plates, each said cable length having a pair of end portions, a pair of end portions of separate cable lengths passing through a said bridge element and said opening to terminate in a said pocket of each said plate, each said bridge element and pocket deformed for securing said end portions to said plates, the end portions of each cable length secured in separate plates, said plates mounted in spaced relation to each other on said carrier, each said cable length extending between adjacent plates on said carrier for forming a loop, and said cable lengths deformed at said bridge elements for directing said loops outwardly from said carrier.

3. In a Well device having a carrier, a subassembly for mounting on the carrier comprising a plurality of retainer plates, a like plurality of cable lengths, means securing an end of each of two separate cable lengths to each said retainer plate, each said cable length having the ends thereof secured in separate plates, and each of said cable lengths connected to all of the other cable lengths by means of said plates and the other of said cable lengths for forming a continuous chain.

4. In a well device having a carrier, a subassembly for mounting on the carrier comprising a plurality of retainer plates, a plurality of cable lengths equal in number to said plurality of plates, each cable length having two ends, means securing a said end of each of two separate cable lengths to each said retainer plate, each said cable length having ends thereof secured in separate plates, and each of said cable lengths connected to all of the other cable lengths by means of said plates and the other of said cable lengths for forming a continuous chain.

5. In a Well device having a carrier, a subassembly for mounting on the carrier comprising a plurality of retainer plates, a plurality of cable lengths equal in number to said plurality of plates, each cable length having two ends, means securing a said end of each of two separate cable lengths toeach said retainer plate with said ends positioned side by side, each said cable length having the ends thereof secured in separate plates, the ends of any two cable lengths secured in at least three of said plates, and each of said cable lengths connected to all of the other cable lengths by means of said plates and the other of said cable lengths.

6. In a well device having a carrier, a subassembly for mounting on the carrier comprising a plurality of retainer plates, each said plate having a bridge element lanced outwardly along two spaced edges and integral with said plate at the ends of said edges, each said plate having a pocket formed therein with an opening facing and spaced from one of said edges of the bridge element, a plurality of cable lengths equal in number to said plurality of plates, each cable length having two ends, a pair of ends of separate cable lengths passing through a said bridge element and said opening to terminate in a said pocket of each said plate, each said bridge element and pocket deformed for securing said ends to said plates, each said cable length having the ends thereof secured in separate plates, the ends of any two cable lengths secured in at least three of said plates, and each of said cable lengths connected to all of the other cable lengths by means of said plates and the other of said cable lengths.

7. In a well pipe device for generating turbulence in a well bore, an improvement comprising a collar adapted to be mounted on the well pipe, a plurality of retainer plates, each said plate having a bridge element lanced outwardly along two spaced edges and integral with said plate at the ends of said edges, each said plate having a pocket formed therein with an opening facing and spaced from one of said edges of the bridge element, a plurality of cable lengths equal in number to said plurality of plates, a pair of ends of separate cable lengths passing through a said bridge element and said opening to terminate in a said pocket of each said plate, each said bridge element and pocket deformed for securing said ends to said plates, the ends of each cable length secured in separate plates, said plates having said cable lengths presecured therein being mounted in spaced relation to each other on said collar with all of said bridge elements and pockets oriented in the same direc tion, each said cable length extending between adjacent plates on said collar for forming a loop, and said cable length deformed at said bridge elements for directing said loops outwardly from said collar.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner. 

3. IN A WELL DEVICE HAVING A CARRIER, A SUBASSEMBLY FOR MOUNTING ON THE CARRIER COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF RETAINER PLATES, A LIKE PLURALITY OF CABLE LENGTHS SECURING AN END OF EACH OF TWO SEPARATE CABLE LENGTHS TO EACH SAID RETAINER PLATE, EACH SAID CABLE LENGTH HAVING THE ENDS THEREOF SECURED IN SEPARATE PLATES, AND EACH OF SAID CABLE LENGTHS CONNECTED TO ALL OF THE OTHER CABLE 